Back when I used to hunt, I found that when it came to scope magnification, I very seldom used any power higher than 6x — usually 5x — because the loss of field-of-vision made target acquisition very problematic. You see, it may be easy to spot your prey with the naked eye, but when you to try to find it again by looking through a scope set to 15x magnification, sometimes all you see is an aperture filled with leaves, grass or still worse, hair.
Also, those big-ass 5-35x56mm scopes are heavy, Bubba, which is fine if you’re benchresting but a lot less desirable when you have to lug the extra weight atop a serious hunting rifle.
Less, in scope terms, is often a lot better than more — whether in terms of weight or magnification.
So I saw this newcomer to the hunting scene with something akin to pleasure:
Burris Fullfield 2-8×35: The Do-Anything Hunting Scope
Let me tell you, I really like the look of this one: small, compact, and it may be the perfect choice for hunters on a budget.
I’m a huge fan of Burris Fullfield scopes — I’ve owned about half a dozen of the things over the years — because I always found them a perfect compromise between quality, performance and reliability. Sure, there are better scopes, but you’re going to pay a hell of a lot more than $160 or $190 (for the plex and illuminated variants, respectively) to get not much further up the quality curve.
Right now, I don’t have a need for one because my scope needs (for the .22 rifles anyway) are doing just fine. But if one of them were to break or go sour on me, this new Burris would probably be at the top of the replacement list, you betcha.
I very much agree about not needing or wanting an enormous scope. My everyday hunting rifle, a Ruger American Predator in .308Win, wears a Vixen https://global.vixen.co.jp/en/ 1.5-6 variable power scope with a 42mm objective lens.
The Vixen is a wee bit larger at the front than that Bushnell, but looks sleeker, and it is a fantastic scope. I leave it set at minimum power, which gives a huge field of view for shooting driven game, or just for not getting “lost” in the scope, as you describe. If I need to take a long shot, I can wind up the magnification to 5 or 6, which is perfectly adequate for out to about 300 metres, and that is about as far as I regularly need to shoot game. Because it is a small scope, I am not lugging unnecessary weight about with me, and it is properly dimensioned for the light, handy, Ruger. Definitely recommend not having too much scope.
If I expect to need to take a long shot, I take a different rifle with a Meopta Optika5 2.5-15 * 44mm.
The Vixen was a fair bit dearer than that Bushnell, but it has been worth it. I would not hesitate to buy a Bushnell, though, as I have never had quality or reliability trouble with the brand. If those are available this side of the big pond, I might get one just to try.
Correction: Burris, not Bushnell. In fairness, the few Bushnell scopes I have had were all serviceable, but the Burris ones were better.
I’ve got a Bushnell on one of the .22 rifles (can’t remember which one), and it’s worked just fine for over 20 years.
Those ammo tests I’ve posted on this website were made with the Bushnell.
I agree with the whole “too much magnification” thing. When I was younger, I did quite fine with the large rear aperture on an AR-15. I succumbed to the red dot craze a couple decades ago and got an AimPoint, though, and that really is nice. I do not understand the trend toward the smaller ones, however. I like the good old 30mm AimPoint Pro. Likewise fancier reticles in holographic sights. If I’m close I just hold low with the red dot. No magnification, both eyes open, the original AimPoint size red dot is nice on an AR.
I recently decided to do a carbine course again as an old guy. There is now a trend to put low power variable optics (LPVO) on ARs now. Seems the cool kids have to adopt the latest thing they see the SWAT guys using in the movies, even if the old stuff works. But I have to admit, I kinda liked it. I used a 1-4 Vortex Crossfire II about the same as the Burris in terms of price.
I left it on 1X the whole time because it was a tactical course and nothing was shot outside of 25 yards. But it’s a very easy thing to reach up, dial it to 3 to find a skinny out there at 100 yards, and I have to say it is a nice view. They put throw levers on the power ring to make this easy and fast.
After the course I put my AimPoint PRO back on, I still think I prefer it, but I wanted to try the tactical scope, and I was impressed. Too old to change, though, and the red dot still works for me for my uses (Pantifa decides to hold a parade nearby or something), but for the DM role, I think a 1-4 scope is really ideal. Anything with more magnification on an AR-type, though, is mental masturbation IMO.
my 30/06 wears a 3-9. the first was a Burris Fullfield II which had a christmas tree type reticle that I didn’t really like. The newer Leupold 3i or whatever it is doesn’t have such a busy reticle. The maximum distance at my club is 200 yards. A nearby club has a 400yard buffalo target shoot that is fun. Maybe I’ll try that sometime.
Depending on your needs, you can find some good quality stuff for rather short money that will give you years of good service. If you’re doing precision shooting at long distances then yeah, you probably do want some sort of higher magnification and such. Just like you’d build a car for drag racing and that is a different piece of equipment than what you would get for a daily driver or even a car for cruise nights, so are rifles and optics.
All those years when I only had a fixed 4x scope from Sears. Shot just fine, too. Plenty good for Texas farm hunting where the longest shot is maybe 100 yds.
Amen. Most hunting outside the rectangle states is at 100yds or less. (It’s much less in forested states like PA and ME.)
I did all of my whitetail hunting in MN, starting out with a plain-tube Mossberg 12-gauge and a gold bead on top of the barrel for a “sight”. Buckshot not allowed, so just a Foster-type slug. Longest shot I took from our stand was about 30 yards, and every single one dropped like it’s strings had been cut.
Later I was shooting at a friend’s property in northern MN at a clearing with my stand in one corner. Longest shot available was 150 yards. Using a Savage .30-06 with a (kit) 3-9x Bushnell, it was always left at 3x. Transparent flip-up scope covers because just sitting in the stand your body make enough heat and humidity that drifts up to fog and then ice your scope. The last buck I took was “…a running shot at 300 yards…”. Nah. He followed three does into the clearing, stood at the edge looking right at me in the stand, and then turned sideways. From 40 yards away I could pick which hairs to put the round through and took the shot.
Both of my accurate 7.62×39’s (as opposed to the AK’s) have 1.5-6x scopes on them, because those are (for me) a maximum 150-yard carbine. Heck, with my disintegrating eyesight I can’t tell a deer from a cow at more than 200 yards, and I’m not willing to point a firearm at it just to look, so I use an 8x monocular on a string around my neck.
I received an fix 6 power ACOG as a gift when I retired, along with a bottle of bourbon and 4 rolls of toilet paper in 2020.
I was very pleasantly surprised on how wide the field of view was as well as the quality of the glass. I have used it in CQB classes as will as games and it might be my favorite optic.
Down side: too expensive for me to buy for myself.
Spot on. Ounces are pounds on a gun. When I built my first AR carbine back in the early 90’s, I stuck a handy little Burris 3 X 9 on it, where it still resides today. A few years back, I came across a sale on Redfield Revolution 2-7 X 33 scopes. Only weigh 11 oz. As Leupold bought the Redfield name long ago, these scopes come off the same production line as the Leupold 2-7 X 33. Leupold has since sold the Redfield name, IIRC to Academy Sports.
My current front line AR has a Burris RT-6. It has this reticle–
https://www.burrisoptics.com/reticles/ballistic-5x
I like simple.
I use Burris ‘scopes on a couple of rather, ermm, largish-bored hand cannons. They are hell for tough; they’ll take the recoil punishment from the Ruger Super Redhawk chambered for .454 Casull and the S&W 629 Custom Deluxe, .44 Magnum of course. They don’t lose zero, the reticles don’t come unstuck and the tubes don’t shake loose when properly mounted. It’s where they made their name originally.
Neither of those ‘scopes have more than 6X magnification since neither gun is much more than a 200-yard affair in the field, and usually they’re dialed down to more like 2.5-3X magnification for the better field of view. If I owned one I could easily see this item on a Scout Rifle, brush gun or something similar. They are bargains and the optics are very good with minimal edge flare and a healthy eye box.
I guess you have never gone Prairie Dog shooting.
I use a Leupold 6×20 and lower the magnification to 15x …18x as the mirage increases.
For small targets at 400 ,500 yards got to have that high magnification
Knowing our host, I would not make that assumption.
I grew up in northwest Kansas beaner, where prairie dog towns are everywhere, and you’re quite correct on that type of shooting. I’ve seen the bullet contrails through the glass — stable shooting platform and good high-magnification ‘scopes during early-morning shoots.
That sort of shooting is a different proposition altogether.